Lando Norris has won the Hungarian Grand Prix after holding off a thrilling late-race challenge for the lead from McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri, the Briton having made an alternative strategy work in his favour to take victory.
Polesitter Charles Leclerc had made a strong start to hold P1 when the race got underway, allowing the Ferrari driver to build up a steady lead over Piastri in P2 during the opening stages of the race – a position he maintained amid the first round of pit stops, despite Piastri’s attempt to undercut his rival.
However, the picture started to evolve as different strategies played out amongst the frontrunners, with Leclerc and Piastri – both on two-stop plans – finding themselves behind the one-stopping Norris in the final phase of the race.
While Leclerc’s pace fell away in the latter stages, a fast Piastri set about chasing down Norris for the lead – leading to a gripping conclusion as the Australian was hot on the tail of his team mate in the final laps.
Race results
FORMULA 1 LENOVO HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX 2025
Despite a couple of attempts, Piastri could not find a way past the other McLaren, with Norris crossing the line just 0.698s ahead to seal his fifth win of the season. This has cut Piastri’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship down to nine points entering into the summer break.
George Russell took third for Mercedes, having overtaken a struggling Leclerc to claim the final spot on the podium. Leclerc had to settle for fourth on a disappointing day for the Monegasque, who also received a five-second time penalty for driving erratically during his battle with Russell.
Fernando Alonso put in a solid drive to claim fifth for Aston Martin, marking a valuable double points finish for the squad with Lance Stroll not far behind in seventh. Between them was Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto, marking another eye-catching performance from the rookie.
Liam Lawson was eighth for Racing Bulls, followed by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen who had a tricky day in ninth. The Dutchman is also facing an investigation after the race for an incident with Lewis Hamilton that saw the Ferrari man go wide.
Kimi Antonelli took the final point on offer in P10 for Mercedes, while Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar just missed out in P11. Also outside of the top 10 was Hamilton, who had to settle for P12 on a tough weekend for the seven-time World Champion.
Nico Hulkenberg placed in 13th for Kick Sauber, followed by the Williams pair of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon in 14th and 15th respectively. Esteban Ocon was the sole Haas to finish the race in 16th, with Yuki Tsunoda behind in 17th for Red Bull.
It was a difficult day for Alpine, as Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly completed the order down in P18 and P19, the latter having received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sainz.
Ollie Bearman, meanwhile, failed to make the chequered flag, with damage to his Haas forcing him to retire from the running.
After the dust had settled amid a surprise ending to Saturday’s Qualifying at the Hungaroring – with Leclerc outpacing the McLaren duo to grab an unexpected pole position – attentions shifted to Sunday’s 70-lap Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before F1’s traditional summer break.
In the wake of that eventful grid-deciding session, one change had been made to the starting order during the build-up to race day. It was confirmed that Tsunoda would be required to start from the pit lane, due to Red Bull having replaced power unit elements in his car – as well as changing the brake cooling configuration – under parc ferme conditions.
While rain had fallen in Budapest earlier on Sunday, the drivers were greeted by dry, gusty and slightly cooler conditions as the start time neared, with a 20 per cent chance of rainfall predicted during the race.
When the tyre blankets were removed once the cars had assembled on the grid for the anticipated two-stop event, it was revealed that the majority of the field would start on the medium compound, the exceptions being Sainz, Hulkenberg and Albon on the softs, and Hamilton and Gasly running the hards.
Once the formation lap had been completed and the lights went out, Leclerc made a good launch off the line to hold the lead into Turn 1, while Norris attempted to move down the inside of Piastri but, after braking early, allowed Russell to slip through into third.
There was further trouble for Norris as Alonso soon snatched P4, pushing the Briton down to fifth. Elsewhere, Verstappen had lost a place to former team mate Lawson – only to retake it later in the lap – while Stroll had dropped backwards to seventh.
As Lap 3 ticked down, Norris swept past Alonso on the main straight to get himself back up to fourth. Verstappen, meanwhile, was also on the move, the Dutchman having overtaken Stroll for P7 before starting to chase down Bortoleto up ahead for sixth – a driver noted by Race Control for a potential false start.
Hulkenberg was the first to pit on Lap 6, the Kick Sauber driver swapping his soft tyres for a set of mediums. Like his team mate, the German driver had also been noted for a possible false start. Elsewhere, up at the front, Leclerc had built a lead of nearly three seconds from Piastri, with Norris trying to catch Russell for fourth while Alonso was heading a DRS train in fifth.
Hadjar – who had lost a place earlier on to Bearman – seemed to be in some discomfort, the Frenchman reporting that his hand had been hit by gravel flicked up from the car ahead during the opening lap.
There was bad news for Hulkenberg, the German having received a five-second penalty for that false start, while no further action was taken in regards to Bortoleto. Up ahead, questions were started to emerge over strategy as the race headed towards Lap 10, with Piastri asked about the possibility of a one-stop race.
“Difficult to know with so many laps to go,” the Australian responded. Team mate Norris, meanwhile, was told that he needed to get past Russell, the McLaren having found himself stuck behind the Mercedes. Others struggling to overtake included Hamilton, the Ferrari man running close to Antonelli in a battle for 13th.
As Lap 15 arrived, Leclerc was now ahead of Piastri by just over three seconds, while others further back were starting to make pit stops, including Colapinto, Albon and Ocon. Sainz was the next to swap his soft tyres for the hards, but the frontrunning cars showed no signs of pitting yet.
Piastri, meanwhile, was encourage to push – and subsequently started to eat into Leclerc’s advantage, the gap down to 2.3s by Lap 18. On the same tour, Verstappen was the first in the top 10 to pit, the Red Bull man emerging with hard tyres on in an attempt to undercut Alonso and Bortoleto.
Another driver trying an undercut was Piastri, having been told “box to overtake Leclerc”. The McLaren emerged back on track between Alonso and Bortoleto – while Leclerc made his own pit stop for the hard compound shortly afterwards.
Leclerc returned to the track still ahead of Piastri, with that lap having seemingly not been enough for the Australian to warm up his tyres. However, the McLaren team radioed in to warn that Leclerc may struggle with the same issue on his own out-lap.
Norris, meanwhile, had inherited the lead after remaining out on track, while Piastri had overtaken Alonso – yet to pit – for P3. The situation for Norris posed some interesting strategy questions, with the Briton asked about the possibility of Plan A and Plan B. Would the squad attempt a one-stop?
McLaren were not the only ones keeping a driver out on track. Alonso – still running his medium starting tyre – lost P4 to Russell on Lap 26, while Verstappen – one of the early stoppers – reported that his own strategy had been a “really terrible idea”, having spent much of the race since in traffic as he tried to make gains from P12.
As the Dutchman set about chasing down former title rival Hamilton for 11th place, Piastri was questioning whether a one-stop strategy could work, leading to the response that it could prove difficult. On the other side of the garage, Norris was asked for his thoughts on doing a one-stop himself, to which he responded: “Yeah, why not!”
“I can feel what we discussed before the race,” Leclerc cryptically reported, before going on to state that the issue would cause the Scuderia to “lose this race”. The Monegasque was running some 1.6s ahead of Piastri with 40 laps remaining.
Further back, Verstappen boldly moved down the inside of Hamilton into Turn 4 to take P11, with the Ferrari subsequently going wide – an incident that was noted by Race Control. Elsewhere, Norris pitted on Lap 32 for the hard tyres on a rapid 1.9s stop, bringing him back out on track in P4 ahead of Alonso.
As the race reached its halfway point, Leclerc was leading Piastri by just under two seconds, with Russell running in third some eight seconds ahead of Norris. Alonso, Bortoleto, Stroll and Lawson were all still to pit in fifth to eighth respectively, while Verstappen and Hamilton rounded out the top 10.
Stroll was the first Aston Martin to pit on Lap 37, returning to the track with the hard tyres bolted on. Elsewhere, Norris was looking fast as he tried to chase down Russell, the Briton dipping a wheel as he pushed hard. This charge had brought his distance to the leaders down to just 13.9s by Lap 40.
Shortly afterwards, Leclerc made another pit stop for a second set of the hard rubber, bringing him back out in fourth around seven seconds behind Norris. Piastri – now in the lead – was subsequently told to push, the Australian now leading by 9.2s from Russell.
While the stewards confirmed that the earlier incident between Verstappen and Hamilton would be investigated after the race, the former – running in P5 – was informed that Red Bull were considering keeping him on a one-stop strategy. “It’s not going to be easy,” the Dutchman reported.
With Russell pitting for the hard compound – and returning to the track in fourth – Norris had been promoted to second and was now 8.7s away from his team mate. As Lap 46 ticked down, Piastri dived into the pits and rejoined in third, five seconds back from Leclerc in P2 and a further 12s adrift of new leader Norris. Could Piastri or Leclerc catch the Briton before the chequered flag?
As the race moved towards the final 20 laps, Verstappen could not hold out any longer on his medium tyres and pitted for a set of hards, bringing him back out into P9 just ahead of Antonelli. Piastri, meanwhile, had caught Leclerc and made a move into Turn 1 to snatch P2 from the Ferrari.
Elsewhere, Bearman became the first retiree from the race, the Haas driver having reported that his car was “broken” after struggling for grip. It also seemed to be turning into a tough day for Leclerc, who voiced his frustration about his SF-25 being “undriveable” before suggesting that a podium finish would be a “miracle”.
The Monegasque’s position did indeed look to be at risk, with Russell closing the gap down to 3.1s with 15 laps to go. Up ahead, Piastri was now 5.6s away from Norris and lapping quickly – setting up a thrilling conclusion to the race.
By Lap 60 of 70, that gap had come down to 3.3s – while Russell was mere tenths away from a struggling Leclerc in the scrap for third. The Silver Arrows driver looked at making a lunge into Turn 1, only for Leclerc to cover him off.
“That was moving under braking!” an irritated Russell complained. The Briton was warned to keep cool – and seemed to do so when he repeated the move at the same place one lap later. This time he made it stick, though was still left unhappy with Leclerc’s defensive moves on track in an incident that was set to be investigated by the stewards.
As the stewards also put Gasly and Sainz under investigation for a collision at Turn 2 – leading to a 10-second penalty for Gasly – all eyes were on the battle at the front. With six laps to go, Piastri was only 1.2s behind Norris – just as the leader was approaching traffic to lap in the form of Hamilton, Hadjar and Antonelli.
After clearing those cars, the gap had dropped to just 0.6s as the final two laps approached. A late lunge on Lap 69 failed to pay off for Piastri, who locked up and just missed his team mate. “Remember how we go racing,” the 24-year-old was warned.
With one more attempt remaining, Piastri ultimately was too far back to make a move on the final tour – meaning that Norris crossed the line to take victory by 0.698s from his team mate and in the process cutting Piastri’s lead in the World Championship down to just nine points.
Russell completed the podium in third place, while Leclerc held onto fourth despite being handed a five-second time penalty for driving erratically during his scrap with Russell. Alonso took a season-best fifth, while Bortoleto – a driver managed by the Spaniard – followed in sixth.
Stroll completed a good day for Aston Martin in P7, while Lawson, Verstappen and Antonelli completed the top 10. Verstappen, however, will still need to visit the stewards post-race for that earlier incident with Hamilton.
Hadjar claimed 11th place ahead of Hamilton in 12th, followed by Hulkenberg in 13th and the Williams duo of Sainz and Albon in 14th and 15th respectively.
Ocon placed in P16, with Tsunoda facing another tough outing behind in P17, while Alpine ended a difficult day with Colapinto in P18 from Gasly in the last classified position.
Bearman proved to be the only retiree of the race in F1’s final outing before the sport embarks on a summer break.
“I’m dead, I’m dead,” joked Norris as he reflected on his race. “It was tough, it was tough. We weren’t really planning on the one-stop at the beginning, but after the first lap it was kind of our only option to get back into things. It was tough. The final stint with Oscar catching, I was pushing flat-out. My voice has gone a little bit. But good, rewarding even more because of that – the perfect result today.”
What’s next
F1 will now embark on its traditional summer break before returning for the Dutch Grand Prix on the weekend of August 29-31. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can follow the action.
